It's just a bank, but it's "my bank" too.
I just got off the phone with Charlie Cross, and he is convinced that this name change is necessary for them to successfully branch out into other markets and diversify the customer base. He believes that the current BOES name might do more to deter new customers in other expanded areas than to attract them. He was also insistent that this is in no way part of a merger/buyout and they have no plans at this time of changing the ownership, headquarters or personnel of the bank.
I expressed my concerns with him over the generic new name, which is shared by multiple banks across the country, but he said that they will be the only Cornerstone Bank in Arkansas. He emphasized that they are focused on expanding slowly, most likely staying within the NW Arkansas corridor. (He mentioned a 50-miles radius. I guess they'll have to change their name again when/if they decide to cross the state line into areas where other Cornerstone Banks may already exist.)
Regarding the nearly identical logo with the Cornerstone Bank in Oklahoma, he said that there is no affiliation. BOES hired lawyers to make sure that their new trademark is non-infringing, but he said he wasn't aware of the other bank with the similar logo. He also stated that his research indicated that their new .NET domain shouldn't be a problem, even though there is another Cornerstone Bank with the same .COM domain. I warned him of the possibility of customers visiting the wrong websites, or even entering their personal account information into the online banking of another bank with the same name, and that there is no assurance that other banks have strong online security. Granted this would be a rare possibility, mostly affecting less savvy online banking customers. But it is still a potential problem that they wouldn't have to deal with, had BOES selected a more unique name (or simply kept the old name).
As you can tell, I still don't agree with this move. Even if they must change their name, I would have hoped that they might have come up with a more distinguishable name to better retain their competitive edge. Not to mention the pre-existing associations that some customers may have with other existing Cornerstone Banks. With the high turnover rate of people new to the area, some of them are bound to have experience with one of the many other Cornerstone Banks. It's like tying your reputation to that of sixteen+ other banks across the country. IMO, the idea of a regionally-restricted identity is now bogus, thanks to the internet. Probably won't "break the bank", but why go through the inconvenience and potential customer confusion of picking such a commonly used name? He says that it is common practice in banking, though. (i.e. - Consider how many "First National" banks there are...) I'm no banking expert, but I find the challenges associated with this saturated new identity to be entirely unnecessary, and I hope that the extra costs associated with those marketing and branding challenges aren't eventually passed on to us in the form of higher fees and account costs.
Charlie was receptive to my comments, while not necessarily agreeing with me. He did his best to try and assure me that they did all of their homework in preparing this new moniker, which they have been working on for the last year and a half. Seeing as "Hey, that's my bank" (their marketing spin, not mine), it would have been nice if they had queried their customers for feedback on this decision prior to it being submitted for approval from the Arkansas State Bank Department. But even if it is "my bank", it is their business and they've managed to survive for this long. I can't help but feel skeptical, but we'll see what happens. I hate the idea of having to migrate my accounts, should this prove to be a big mistake for them and things go bad. But if there are any major drawbacks, we probably won't see them for a while.
If you have concerns of your own, give him a call.
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